1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat sliding apparatus for a vehicle seat in which a seat main body is capable of moving a front-and-rear direction, an more specifically relates to a structure for mounting an operation lever to a lock plate.
2. Description of Related Art
In such a kind of a seat sliding apparatus, a vicinity of a base portion of a lock plate is mounted to side surfaces of a pair of right and left upper rails fixed to a seat cushion side so that the lock plate can be pivoted about a shaft. The lock plate is set so as to be pivoted by an operation of an operation lever mounted to a front side of the lock plate.
When lock holes formed on a free end of the lock plate is engaged with lock gear teeth formed on a pair of right and left lower rails fixed to a car body, the seat main body is prevented from moving the front-and-rear direction of the seat main body, and the seat main body can be moved by releasing the engagement.
Previously, the operation lever of such seat sliding apparatus was provided to one lock plate, and it was connected with the other lock plate via a wire or a rod so that the right and left lock plates were linked. However, recently a loop-type operation lever, which is constituted so that one rod is formed into a substantially U shape and its both ends are directly fixed to the lock plates, has been adopted in order to reduce the number of parts and reduce the costs and improve operability.
However, such a kind of operation lever cannot be mounted in a state that the right and left rails are not located, namely, in the state that a seat cushion or the like is mounted to the seat sliding apparatus. For this reason, after the operation lever was mounted to the right and left rails, the seat cushion or the like should be mounted, so a characteristic of the mounting was deteriorated.
Therefore, a structure that the operation lever is inserted from the forward side so as to be capable of being mounted has been suggested in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-295164 (1996) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-11780 (1997). However, there arises a problem that a structure of a lock lever for inserting and fixing the operation lever is complicated and thus the characteristic of the mounting is deteriorated.
In addition, since such an operation lever is rigid, when upper rails fall sideways at a time of a side-on collision, the operation lever is pried, and the lock lever is pivoted due to this prying so that the lock is possibly released.
Furthermore, since such an operation lever is provided in a forward-lower position of the seat cushion, there is a fear of the heels of a person in the seat kicking up the operation lever at the time of a back-on collision. For this reason, the operation lever is conventionally provided in an inner position of the seat cushion so that heels do not touch with the operation lever. As a result, there arises a problem that the operability is deteriorated.